Exploration of 12 Historic Supreme Court decisions and human stories behind them. A new stories a new series on cspan. Monday, october 5, at 9 00 p. M. Profile series with president ial candidates continues with George Pataki, followed by rick santorum. At 8 00, our conversation with Jennifer Teege on q a. August, cspans steve scully sat down with George Pataki. During the interview, governor pataki talked about his life and why he is running for president. The interview is part of a series of conversations with declared candidates as part of the road to white house coverage. This interview is 35 minutes. Joining us from new york is former governor George Pataki, 2016 republican president ial candidate, thank you for being with us. Gov. Pataki good being on with you. When you first enter this race you said that you could win if voters Pay Attention to you. Are they . Gov. Pataki right now, there is one major distraction focusing the Media Attention but it is early in the process. The honest answer is not yet, but i believe there is a very good chance that they will. Steve how do you get there . What is your method . Willpataki i think people want government that works. Table want a leader is a proven record of being able to bring people together they want a recordwho has a proven of being. Able to bring people together. Record as af my republican in a deep blue state. I grew up on a farm. You learn it is not about the words, it is about what you do. When you look at the words of these candidates about what they have done and what they do, we need a mature leader who has shown they can govern and that would be me. Steve you are a fiscal conservative, but you are prochoice. How will that play out in a republican primary . Gov. Pataki that gets to what i was just saying that it is all words and nothing happens. It has been 42 years since roe v. Wade, and we continually elect prolife republicans but nothing changes. Let me tell you what would change. We would have a permanent ban on funding using taxpayer dollars for abortion. We would defund planned parenthood. I think it is outrageous that they showed such a despicable disregard for life in the marketing and selling of oregons organs of a baby. That is reprehensible. And third, i dont believe i have the right to impose my religious leaf which is that religious belief which is that life begins at conception. We have separation of church and state. There comes a point where it is not religious but science. Weeks wheret 20 science says this is a viable life that can be sustained outside the boom. In that outside the womb. In that sense, what the politics are a could not tell you, but when science says it is a life, you have an obligation to protect it. Steve if president pataki were to appoint a Supreme Court justice, would this be a litmus test issue . Gov. Pataki no litmus test, but the constitution clearly lays out the laws are to be enacted by the elected members of congress by the people not the Supreme Court justices based on what they think is a good policy. I would have Supreme Court justices who believe in the constitution and understand that their role is to interpret the law and not make the law. You passed on this four years ago, but entered earlier this year. What is different today . Gov. Pataki the need for changes that much greater. Americas stature in the world has declined. Our National Security is at risk in a way i have not seen since september 11. Orther it is radical islam an emerging russia. I think our National Security situation is worse, and our economic condition is very fragile. We saw the gyrations in the stock market. We are not having the job growth and the economic recovery. We dont have that sense of optimism in the economy Going Forward that we should have. It all comes down to one thing, a failure of leadership in washington, whether it is the economy or americas standing in the world, we can turn it around. Steve how did a lawyer from peekskill, new york become the mayor of new york outside that city . Gov. Pataki i went off and become and got a great education, i started at a law form law firm, but it wasnt for me. I wanted to go home. I moved back to our family farm, and ran the farm with the family. I decided that if you like a community, and do not believe in the leadership. You have two options. Sit on the outside and complain or get involved and try to change it. So, i ran. It was a democratic city against a democratic incumbent. That has been the story of my political life. People believed in me and gave me the chance to lead that city. I believe i left it in a better condition than when i took office. Steve how did you win that race . Gov. Pataki hard work. Doortodoor. Not being partisan. In that city, democrats were first, independents were second and republicans were third in and rolled. Third in enrollment. I knew i had to forget about partisan politics and had to have ideas that appealed to them. It is ideas and a vision that appeal across party lines. That was a great lesson for me in my first race and has been a lesson that america could lose could use more of. People should not have this blind, partisan loyalty. Once the elections are over, we are all americans. We will reach out across party lines and govern based on solutions and not partisanship. Steve let me ask you about the farm. The New York Times writing about your appearance regularly in the west village. It is safe to say that you are the only candidate that operates the farmers market, or sells beef at the farmers market. Gov. Pataki i think that is pretty likely. It is something that has been in my blood since i was a little kid. My dad with the horse and wagon selling vegetables from the farm. Now we have the farm way upstate in new york where we raise Grass Fed Beef cattle and market it in new york city. You are connected to the land. It is something tangible, not pushing papers or making money with a stock deal on wall street. You actually grow something, picket, sell it pick it, sell it to a consumer. Steve what makes your beef different . Gov. Pataki [laughter] now you want me to be a marketer . It is grass fed, hormone free, antibiotic. It is good and healthy for you. That is something different. We have a young guy who moves the cattle every day or two on a horse from one attic to another one paddock to another. Farming teaches the value of hard work. It doesnt matter if it is cold out or you are sick. You have to get the job done. He cant cover it up by blaming someone else. It teaches you that words dont matter, that you have to get the job done. It doesnt matter if you claim that you did something, it or you did it or you did not. Mother nature either you did it or you did not. Mother nature can be pretty severe. You think you have things ready to go and the storm comes along. You have to pick yourself up and do it again. It is a great life lesson about hard work and sticking to it regardless of the ups and downs. Of peekskill, new york in the 1980s and then you ran for the state senate. Why . Gov. Pataki i always ran against democratic incumbents. When i was mayor, i thought i did a very good job in getting the city headed in the right direction. It was always so frustrating that so much of the control was from government at a higher level. The state level. Iwanted to change that, so ran and got involved. The assembly was overwhelmingly democratic, so it was hard to get my ideas through. I worked well with the majority and did get some things done. Every republican who wanted to be in the state legislature, wanted to be in the senate because that is the majority. I got there and within a month i hated it. They were more concerned about getting reelected, taking care of the constituents that helped them, then changing the state. We had a very liberal failed State Government at the time. Instead of trying to change it, they accommodated it to get reelected. Within a month or two, i said this isnt for me. I will be in a position where i can change the state or i will get out of politics and do something else. Let me ask you about the issue of corruption. There have been a number of lawmakers in new york who have been convicted of influence peddling and taking bribes. Gov. Pataki it is just awful what has happened. We see legislator after legislator indicted and too many convicted. Part of it is that the separation of powers prevents the executive except under rare circumstances, from going after the legislature. When i was there we put in a number of reforms. The commission that went through and recommended a series of reforms to change how executive agencies and authorities functioned. We implemented them all but they would always exempt themselves and it was ultimately the legislature where the vast majority of this corruption has come from. Finally we have prosecutors and press going after it. It is a good thing, it is tragic that it occurred. One of the problems that i see is that legislators stay there 10 years or 30 years. They think the law does not apply to them. Not just albany, but washington, too. Washington passes obamacare and imposes it on every american but exempts himself themselves and their staff. They think the laws dont apply to them. But they do. One thing that i want to change is every law that applies to the American People will apply to congress, too. In late 1994, state senator George Pataki announces that he will run for governor. What did you see that others did not that led to your election . Nobody thought i had a chance. I never raised any money. I was an outcast in the senate because i oppose my own partys nomination of mario cuomo, but i knew that the people wanted to change the direction of the state. I understand that new yorks government was failing at people. We were dead last in jobs, the highest taxes, the worst credit rating. One of every 11 people on welfare. This was failing. We were the most dangerous stay in america. I knew if i could get my message out there, that it was the government failing the people, not the people failing then i could have a chance to be mario,. Mario cuomo. That is why im running for president. People understand that the government is failing us, and they dont like the partisan position of an ideology on either side. I did it in new york and overwhelmingly a democratic state. I know that i can do it in washington as well. Steve in that race, mayor giuliani endorsed Governor Cuomo and not you. What was your reaction . Gov. Pataki it was a shock to me, because he was well known and i was unknown. He said, here is a republican who does not like pataki, he is an extremist. It hurt. But earlier, when you grow up on a farm you think you have the best crop and the hurricane comes along. You pick yourself up and go forward anyway. Thats what we did. That is what he thinks, but here is why i can leave the state and change things. Ultimately i made the case, fought the fight and one. And won. I was way behind in the polls against cuomo. I understand i am way behind in the polls now, but there are a lot of serious issues facing the country. I know i have the ability to resolve those issues, working as a conservative republican but with democrats as well. I hope as it gets closer people will say that pataki is the right guy. Steve in that race, against cuomo, in the last weeks it really began to turn in your favor. What happened . Gov. Pataki hard work. Making the case that yes, mayor giuliani endorsed cuomo, but that did not change the fact that the state was failing the people. He did not have the job you wanted. We were dead last in jobs. I had a positive agenda to change the tax laws and the criminal justice laws, to replace welfare with opportunity. People said yes. Hisont know the sky, but we dont know this guy, but his ideas make sense. I think the state would be grateful because we did manage to change the state completely. Steve after you were elected, what was the conversation like between you and giuliani . Gov. Pataki it was fine. I always thought that if you look back and think, this person did that and that person did the other thing, you will never get things done. It is about the future and governing successfully. He was a very successful mayor in new york. We worked well together as governor and mayor. York, you have the governor and mayor that barely speak to each other and not in civil terms. We Work Together because we had a common agenda and looked to put it behind us. That is what you do in as well. N, it isnot about your ego, about the challenges facing the country. I have always been looking at those Solutions Based instead of what people looked at in the past. Cuomo regarding governor he passed away earlier this year, did it surprise you that he never ran for president . That was one of the things mentioned in the eulogy and obituary. Gov. Pataki it did surprise me. He was the great liberal icon of the democratic party, and had he run he would have had a great deal of support. It is a personal decision and i respect the fact that he made the decision not to run. I also respect the fact that after i beat him, he was extreme a gracious. He never sang, i told you so or look what he is doing. You can have those philosophical disagreements, you can run against each other politically, but ultimately we are all americans. Too often, people in politics forget that. You have to remember that we have different ideas about what the solutions are, but so long as we Work Together, we can put aside those differences and find the Common Ground that you need to go forward successfully. Steve in 1994, you vowed to serve two terms, but ultimately served three. Why . Gov. Pataki we took new york from being the most dangerous state in america to being the fourth safest. We had over one Million People off welfare and onto the employment. We turned around the economic climate. Then the horrible attacks of september 11. Instantaneously through off everything we had been trying to do. Loss, a horrible human which i will never forget. But also an economic catastrophe. Million square feet of office space and one morning. We lost 100,000 jobs in an hour. We lost over 300,000 jobs. People did not want to come to new york. You cannot have all of these businesses concentrated in one geographic area. New york was facing another crisis. You dont walk away from a crisis, you lead through. Lower manhattan today it is one of the most exciting places to be. The memorial is one of the most moving places people can be. Andow have congress rising, the freedom tower. When you have a crisis you do not walk away, you lead through it. Make sure that you lead leave the People Better off than when you started. 2001, on that morning in where were you and at what point did you realize the magnitude . Gov. Pataki i was in the city. My daughter called me and said debt a plane hit the tower and turn on the tv. She was rattled said dad, a plane hit the tower and to turn on the tv. She was rattled. I said it was probably an accident, then the second plane hit the tower and i knew it was an attack. We had to get the Emergency Response system. I called president bush and asked him to shut down the airspace and he had already done it. Then we went to work that day and you can never anticipate it, nobody knew what might happen next. It was a horrible time but a time when you had to put aside the other concerns and to do whatever you could lead to the crisis whatever you could to lead through the crisis. I spoke to mayor giuliani, he had been out of pocket for a few hours because he was trapped under a building when the command center was destroyed. He called back and said i am ok, we have a new command center. In about a minute i said i am bringing my entire team down to meet with yours. From that afternoon on, 24 hours a day, in one room you had every state official working together to get us through september 11 and every city official. When the feds came through, they were in that room. There was never any doubt about who would carry that mission. It was that total synchronized response by all levels of government, steve i will take it one step further. For you personally, what was your schedule like, what was your routine . Gov. Pataki you didnt have a schedule or routine. You would be meeting with , depending onthen the need, one moment you would meet with family members to console them, one meeting you would be with firefighters and construction workers to urge them they didnt need much virgin, they were so patriotic and strong. At the same time, you needed to govern in an emergency. The state runs the tunnels under the river, the tunnels and the subways, we needed to do everything to ramp up security. We didnt know what would happen next, so it was constant effort to get us through. By the way, as i mentioned, the economic crisis was the norm us enormous. The next day, we had a 24 hour Economic Assistance Program going in the lobby of the Office Building where my office was, everyone from the corner drycleaner to American Express had come in to get assistance to prevent them from suffering more economic disaster. It was a night and a day job by the mayor and the city and myself and my team and the federal officials that were here. One thing i will never forget is theAmerican People, outpouring of support from every corner of america. We had volunteers, experts, support, we actually had to set up a command center in major center to coordinate all the support we were getting to make sure we controlled it was going to ground zero to help. Forget thenever spirit of the American People and the strength of new yorkers. One of the most important things was the sense of unity we felt. Everything seems to superficially divide us, democrats, and young, old, it didnt matter, we were going to stand together shoulder to shoulder and the strength of america showed in those days and i hope we can show that again. Steve do you worry or are you concerned we could face another 911 attack . Gov. Pataki no question. I think we are in as great a danger as we have been. Two different types, we sell it happene